Starting Over Part III
by JaninaM8
Summary: Lokane. The third part to Stockholm Syndrome. You'll have to read that first, and then the sequel. This part deals with the aftermath of Loki altering time. Jane has promised to save Loki from execution, but she may end up taking on more than she can handle with the God that loves her.


**This is not going to be a very long fic. It's something I want to finish and my little "break" from the other stories. **

**I**

Loki looked up at the sound of his mother's voice asking to be let inside his cell. He got up from where he sat in the corner, barefoot and generally unkempt, and wondered if she was alone or if someone was with her.

And then he saw her. Jane. She stepped out from behind Frigga with a solemn and yet resolved expression on her beautiful face. Loki got to his feet and started towards them. He needed to be close to her; he needed to see that she was healed from Thor's lightning. When he thought of how helpless he'd felt when that bolt had struck her…He could pummel Thor all over again.

Once Frigga and Jane stepped inside, Loki reached for Jane. "Jane," he gasped.

Jane lunged away from him and hid behind Frigga. Loki ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Jane, please, are you injured? That bolt of lightning—"

"Physically I'm fine," she said curtly.

He nodded slowly. "You are no doubt upset with me."

"Upset?" She let out a short laugh and shook her head. "That doesn't even begin to cover how I feel."

"This is not the start I quite had in mind for the two of you," Frigga said primly and clasped her hands before her.

Loki furrowed his brow. "Start?"

Frigga nodded and looked at Jane. "Shall I tell him or would you like to?"

"You can," Jane said and fixed her gaze across the room.

"Very well," Frigga said. "Your father—"

"Not my father," Loki interrupted.

Frigga sighed and Jane snapped, "Let her speak, Loki."

Loki clamped his mouth shut though his temper flared.

"Your father was considering a punishment for your crimes," Frigga continued. "Execution was among the list he was considering."

Loki laughed darkly. "You call him father to me and yet tell me he was considering having me executed? He wouldn't consider such a thing if Thor had done what I did."

"Well, not many would do what you did," Jane said. She still wouldn't look at him though.

"What will a man not do for love?"

She looked at him then. Loki decided if Jane Foster had powers, hers would be to kill with a look alone.

Frigga started to speak again. "Jane pled your case to your father."

Loki looked searchingly at Frigga and then at Jane. "Pardon?"

"She saved you," Frigga said. "An agreement has been reached. We will continue forth with what Jane and your father has worked out, or we may return to negotiations of your fate."

"What is the agreement?" Loki asked. He honestly didn't know what to expect next, he just prayed it didn't involve never seeing Jane again. He couldn't bear it. He'd asked to die if that was the case.

"You will be stripped of your powers. Of everything," Frigga said quietly. "You will become human, a mortal that can die and be hurt just as any other human, and you will return to Midgard with Jane to live out your life. Jane will do what she can to help you adjust to your new life and then you will be left to your own devices."

Loki sucked in a breath. Become mortal? Be banished from Asgard never to return? He looked at Jane who stared at the floor of his cell. But he would be with her. Did she know that she was giving him another chance?

"I can practically hear what you're thinking," Jane said and finally looked at him. Straight in the eye. "Don't for one second think this is a chance for you to weasel your way in. When we're on Earth and you're ready to be on your own, there are things like restraining orders that won't permit you to be within 100 feet of me. And if you go against them, you'll be tossed in jail. And jail is nothing like this," she said as she gestured to the cell around him. "Remind me to show you pictures on Earth. That is, if you agree—"

"I do," Loki said. The chance to right all he'd done wrong? The chance to be with Jane? He'd take it. "When do we leave?"

"Immediately," Frigga said softly and then began to cry. She went to Loki and hugged him tight. "My son."

Loki shut his eyes and wrapped his arms around her. He would miss his mother; he knew that. He would most likely miss Asgard too, but if he was dead it wasn't as if he could enjoy it then either. Plus, Valhalla did not have Jane Foster.

"I'd like to say goodbye to Thor again," Jane said softly and walked out.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Are you sure about this, Jane Foster?" Thor asked as they stood together on the Rainbow Bridge. He held her hands in his and looked down at her in concern.

Jane shook her head. "Not at all."

"Why did you do it?"

"Because I…I don't know. I'm going to say that it's because you and Frigga would have been devastated if Odin sentenced Loki to death."

Thor nodded and looked down. "Yes."

"Frigga broke down right in front me and I just couldn't…no mother wants to see their son die. Maybe she won't ever get to see him this way, not in the conventional sense anyway, but she'll know he's alive."

"You are most kind, Jane," Thor said. "I have always thought so."

"Kind, sure. Yeah. I mainly just feel like an idiot."

"Jane…do you…do you have feelings for Loki?"

That was a question she had been trying to answer since he'd kidnapped her. Now, after attempting to change the very fabric of time to get what he wanted…and _now_ that she'd just saved his life…? There had to be something fundamentally wrong with her that she couldn't bear the idea of Loki being gone for good. He deserved punishment, yes, but not death. She couldn't live with that on her conscience, even if she really had nothing to do with his schemes.

Then she thought of how she'd made love with him. How she'd begged for it on the island. Maybe she did have_ something _to do with it.

"I don't know," Jane finally said. "I did this for you and for Frigga. That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

Thor nodded. "I understand."

"So, what will I find on Earth? Have they all moved forward – is that even possible? Or are we stuck back in time or—"

"Odin has called upon a few Gods and Goddesses to help him restore time back to the instant before

Loki turned it back. As far as your friends are concerned, you had taken a trip to Asgard to account for your absence. At most, the mortals will have dreams of their time travel."

Jane cocked her head to the side. "What Loki managed, Odin had to call on help for. Am I sensing more of a reason your father was so quick to jump to execution for Loki?"

Thor sighed and nodded. "Yes. Odin fears that Loki's powers have grown to the point that he is capable of anything – even escaping prison. Loki has always been a wild card, but he is now a desperate wild card."

Jane pursed her lips together and folded her arms across her chest. "Because of me."

Thor shook his head. "What he's done is not your fault, Jane. You musn't think that. Loki has always been passionate. Whether it's to destroy me, overthrow Odin, or obtain your affections, he has never done anything in half measures. When he does, then it means he's plotting something and you should take cover."

Jane offered up a weak smile and then shook her head. "I had no idea what he felt for me until I ended up in that cave. I swear it."

"And yet you will not tell me what happened there," Thor said softly, looking down at their still entwined hands. "I can guess considering how you ended our engagement when you returned and wished to return to Midgard. You also wanted nothing to do with your work when you went back home…"

She looked at him in surprise. "You watched me?"

Thor smiled gently. "Of course. I wanted to know…had to know…that you were all right." He gripped her hands tightly. "If only I had been watching closer when Loki came to you so that I could have stopped him—"

"Don't. I don't need your guilt. Like you said Loki is a wild card. He would have found a way."

"What is this?"

The snarl was unmistakably Loki's and Jane sighed and looked at him as guards led him to the bridge where they would then make their way to Heimdall and be sent to Earth. Loki looked down at Thor and Jane's clasped hands and his mouth turned into a sneer.

"It was his lightning that hurt you," Loki told her. "He's the reason you ended up needing—"

"No, Loki, that was you. All you. Yeah, I got hit by a bolt of lightning, but if you hadn't perfected the art of fucking things up then Thor wouldn't have had to come and put a stop to the mess _you _made," Jane said, practically trembling with rage by the time she was done.

"Jane—" Loki began, but Jane walked away before he could say anything more. She didn't want to hear what he had to say. She was angry with him for all he'd done and confused by her feelings for him, and she just could not deal with him at the moment. Bad enough she'd signed on to deal with him when they returned to Earth.

She had to be a masochist.

xxxxxxxxx

Saying goodbye to his mother had been sad, heart-wrenching even, but nothing could have prepared Loki for what it felt like being human. He was struck with hunger pains fiercer than he'd ever experienced before. And he felt dizzy. He had never suffered any ill effect from traveling the Bifrost but tonight, he retched in potted plants.

"Jane?"

Loki turned weakly and found Erik and Darcy coming out on the patio to join them.

Jane ran to the fair-haired older man and threw her arms around him. "Erik!" she gasped. "Are you okay?"

Erik looked at her in confusion as he broke the hug. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

Jane nodded. "Right, you don't remember what happened…"

"Jane, what's Loki doing here?" Darcy asked a bit nervously. She stared at Loki half in awe and half in fear.

Jane sighed heavily. "I can explain everything, and I will," she said. "Including our guest. Can we go inside?"

Erik frowned and they headed inside. All but Loki who retched again. After a few seconds, Jane came back outside and looked down at Loki who lay on his back on the floor with his eyes shut tight. "I'll just die here and save everyone the trouble," he said.

"You're human now. You feel things differently," she said.

"Traveling back and forth never made you ill."

"Everyone is different. Perhaps you have motion sickness as a human." She brightened. "It could be fun to discover what other ailments you have as a human."

"You sound overjoyed."

"Oh, but I am," she said. "After all you've done? You deserve it."

"I love you, Jane."

"That wasn't love, what you did. That was…something sick and twisted."

"Be that as it may, I still love you. And all I did was because I love you and can't bear the idea of not being with you."

"Well you better start figuring out how you're going to bear it because once you're on your feet; you and I won't have anything to do with each other anymore."

Loki said nothing. Did it make her feel better to think that would be so? Did she really believe he would just give up on her – on them?

"I mean it, Loki," she said, eyeing him warily. "I'll get a restraining order. I wasn't lying about that. You come near me; you'll be locked up. And I won't be the one to bail you out. I'll move and change my name if I have to if it means you won't have access to me."

Loki got up on his elbows and looked at her. "Why did you save me if you want nothing to do with me? Why did you agree to these terms of taking care of me if you loathe me?"

Her resolve cracked; he could see it on her face. She lifted her chin and folded her arms across her chest. "I did it for your mother and Thor. They would have been devastated to see you dead. I couldn't do that to them."

Loki reached out with one hand and slid a hand up her calf. She shook him off and glared at him. "Is that the only reason, my love?" he asked silkily.

"I am _not_ your love."

_Not yet_, he thought.

"Not ever," she said.

xxxxxxxxx

Erik, Darcy, Loki and Jane congregated at the kitchen table in the flat. Jane showed Loki how to make cereal and then he sullenly munched on that while Jane explained all that had happened. Erik and Darcy were understandably alarmed to hear what Loki had done. Apparently they had both had dreams of Loki visiting them in Puente Antiguo (when they were now in London). They had both chalked it up to the fact that Jane had been kidnapped by Loki and had been around in the aftermath to pick up the pieces.

"But you both dreamt of the same thing!" Jane had exclaimed.

"Mortals and their simple minds," Loki muttered.

"You know what? I can drive you to a homeless shelter right now and let you fend for yourself," Jane snapped at him. "I'm not putting up with your derogatory remarks about mortals considering you are one now."

Loki looked at her and held her gaze. If he was trying to intimidate her, it wasn't working. Jane stared him down. Whether or not it was childish to have a staring contest she didn't care. Finally, he got up and walked out of the flat and back outside.

"Jane," Erik began and she knew what he was going to say just by his tone.

"I know this sucks," she said, cutting Erik off. "I know it's inconvenient, but it's not for forever. As soon as Loki has a job and a place to live—"

"I'll pay for him to live elsewhere," Erik said and Jane could tell he meant it. "The sooner he is away from you the better."

"He's been stripped of all his powers," Jane told him. "He can't do anything to me."

"Something tells me that he'd figure something out," Darcy said. "I have some money. Not a lot, but some. I'll help pay for him to be elsewhere, too."

"Let's just see wait for a bit, okay? I don't really relish the idea of you guys forking money over for him. We'll get him a job…somewhere. He's human now; he needs to adjust to human life first."

"Jane, why do you have to go through all of this for him?" Erik demanded.

"I'm not doing it for him," Jane said. "I'm doing it for Thor and for Frigga. I made a promise to them and I'm keeping it."

"Jane—"

"Trust me; I know what an inconvenience this is. I don't like the fact that I'm responsible for him right now either, but please, I am begging you – help me? Please just help me get through this and then we can all put it behind us and move on with our lives."

Erik and Darcy exchanged glances and then Erik reached across the kitchen table and put his hand over Jane's cold ones. "We'll help."


End file.
